How and when service beneficiaries’ gratitude enriches employees’ daily lives.
Pok Man Tang, Remus Ilieș, Sherry S. Y. Aw, Katrina Jia Lin, Randy Lee, Chiara Trombini
Abstract
service providers (i.e., healthcare professionals) benefit from receiving service beneficiaries' (i.e., patients) gratitude in their daily work. We hypothesize that perceived gratitude from service beneficiaries enhances service providers' relational energy at work, which spills over to benefit their family lives later in the day. In addition, we hypothesize that the effect of gratitude on relational energy and its subsequent spillover effect to the family are contingent on employees' occupational identity. Two experience sampling studies with data collected from healthcare professionals and their spouses for two consecutive weeks (each) provided support for our hypothesized model. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).